Specter Down
by RebelliousWaffle
Summary: As she cradles the dead Hera Syndulla, Sabine screams at the First Order stormtroopers responsible for her death.
1. Chapter 1: Screaming

_**Before this starts, shabla is a Mandalorian cuss that combines the s-word and the f-word, basically taking the role of both. Demagolka is a real-life monster. Aruetii is a traitor.**_

 _ **If you cry easily, you might want to grab a tissue box.**_

 _ **I'm so very sorry for this.**_

 _ **-RebelliousWaffle**_

* * *

 _Personal Journal of Sabine Wren_

 _Access Code: Look_At_The_Colors_

 _Access Granted. Beginning Playback._

* * *

You know the story of Hera Syndulla. Of course you do. I know it just as well as you, maybe even better. But few people know where she ended up.

I know where she ended up.

She's lying in front of me right now. Her eyes are open and her skin is still flushed green. From almost any angle, she looks perfectly fine.

But her eyes can't see and her heart doesn't beat. Hera Syndulla, General in the Alliance to Restore the Republic, recipient of the Medal of Bravery for valiant action in service of the Rebellion, is dead. Her forehead has a burnt hole in the middle of it, the skin charred black. Her blood is running in streaks down her face, staining my hands as I hold her head. My husband and Hera's child are across from me, looking at Hera, hoping that maybe, maybe she's still alive.

But her heart no longer beats. Her eyes no longer see. She is one with the Force now, reunited with Kanan, but no longer with her son.

The white clad stormtrooper looks over us, staying silent for now. He does not move, nor does he show any sympathy for the part of my family he just killed. My biological mother still lives, but Hera was my mother proper, my caretaker, my guardian, my confidant.

She was Hera.

Slowly, I drag my stained palm down Hera's face, closing her eyes. _She's in a better place now_ , I tell myself, trying not to cry, not to show emotion as I gather her up for burial.

"Leave her."

The voice, harsh and commanding, strikes Jacen, Ezra, and I. Jacen responds first, his distress evident in his tone. "What do you mean, leave her?"

"We must take her into custody." It's a officer talking, but I'm not listening. I'm sliding my arms under Hera's neck and legs, taking her body away from this road. The officer strides towards me and motions for me to stop. I look back at him with tears in my eyes.

"You think that the galaxy is yours."

"It is."

"You think you can do anything you want on Lothal."

"We can."

"No."

The words, cold and deliberate, slide out of my mouth. "This is Hera Syndulla. She saved me when I wasn't okay. She gave me purpose in life, she gave me my friends, she gave me a clean slate."

I take a breath. "She gave me Ezra."

The officer says nothing.

"And now, my mom is dead. You shot her." I lay Hera down. "You SHOT HER!" My voice cracks like a whip. "What if I shot your mother? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL, YOU DAMNED DEMAGOLKA? OR DID YOU LOSE YOUR EMOTIONS WHEN YOU TRAINED WITH THE FIRST ORDER?"

My hand meets the solid flesh of the officer's shabla face. Tears sting my eyes. "YOU SHABLA DEMAGOLKA!"

A stormtrooper raises his blaster. Ezra's blade snaps to life, the emerald glow lighting up the street at nighttime. A crowd has gathered and now stands still, watching, holding their collective breath. More stormtroopers arrive, aiming their blasters at Jacen, Ezra, and I.

"YOU ARE ALL MURDERERS! ARUETII! TRAITORS!" I scream. "HEARTLESS SHABLA BEINGS OF SOLDIERS, TRAINED TO MURDER INNOCENT PEOPLE! WHAT DID HERA DO TO YOU?!"

Blasters are trained on me now. I don't care. Jacen has taken out his lightsaber now. It's azure blade mixes with Ezra's. My voice drops low.

"You have created a spark, troopers. When the fire consumes you, it will burn bright from this single spark. For this spark will spread across the systems, across space, and it will light the fire that will burn your 'Order' to the ground."

I grab Hera's body and shoulder my way through the crowd of stormtroopers. Angry fire and icy contempt run through my veins. Their aim follows me. I don't care. They can't stop me. If they shoot me, there will be riots. They know this. They cannot kill me without beginning the end of their precious shabla First Order.

And I know this, as I walk down the street with Jacen and Ezra guarding my back and Hera in my arms.

They follow me. I walk all the way to my house and lay Hera down in front of it.

Her eyes no longer see, her brain no longer thinks, her heart no longer beats. Only her eternal legacy remains. The legacy of the Specters.


	2. Chapter 2: Red, Gold, Black

_Personal Journal of Sabine Wren_

 _Access Code: Tell_The_Paladin_

 _Access Granted. Beginning Playback._

* * *

Colors have meanings to my people. For instance, green is duty. Pink is conflict. Blue means reliability.

My armor has none of these. It, instead, has red, black, and gold.

Red is honoring a parent. I honor two. Black is justice. Kanan may never have justice, but Hera sure as haran will.

Gold is vengeance. I think we all know why.

 _Nobody_ kills a Specter and gets away with it.

My brush slides across my armor quickly and quietly, repainting my armor from the dark blues and greens into black, red, and gold. My helmet is black, with four golden lines running down the front, staying solid all the way down my chest armor, only fading once it met the legs. My chest armor had a red phoenix high on the left breast, and the rest of it was black. My shoulder armor was all red. The vambraces were painted dark blue, for duty.

I can't abandon my duty to Lothal, just modify it. Modify it so instead of protect Lothal, it said liberate Lothal once more. And, if Lothal is to be liberated, the First Order must fall. So, I suppose it's my duty to help destroy the First Order. How sad for me. Boo-karking-hoo.

Their Supreme Leader, some demagolka called Snoke, is still hidden as of this recording. Once I find him, I will kill him and I will tell you. If you find this in ten years, I have died trying to kill him. Carry on my legacy. Kill Snoke and you will destroy the First Order. Cut the head off the monster. Save the galaxy.

Do that, and everything else will just be a normal day.

I had a base, a bastion, built in the snow of the northern poles of Lothal at the base of the fangs. In the snow, you will find a terminal. The terminal will ask for a passcode. Remember: Tell Paladin Orain, Local On Onderon, Kasmir Are Told To Have Ethereal Chattels Ordered Like Old Regulations.

Inside the Bastion, I will have stored an identical set of armor in three different sizes. Take one. Grab the set of gear I have laid out. Make sure to keep at least one piece of everything where it is, so the replicators can make more. You'll need all the stuff you can get. Recruit more people to help you as well. Close friends only at first. You'll need the help.

And if Ezra is alive… tell him to look at the color.


	3. Chapter 3: Closure

**_To Cousinxcaps: Yes, you do! Good job._**

* * *

 _Personal Journal of Sabine Wren_

 _Access Code: Walk_Through_The_Fire_

 _Access Granted. Beginning Playback._

* * *

I want my children to grow up in a perfect galaxy.

A utopia.

We all want that. It's never going to be granted, of course. Even the word _utopia_ tells it's true meaning. While it may mean a perfect world, it's literal translation is _a place that doesn't exist_. But at the very least, we can make it as perfect as we can.

My goal is to make the galaxy a better place by tossing off the First Order and restoring the Republic. We're on the second stage of our plan now: total war. The first stage has already been completed. We've got our safe worlds, our informants, our army, our navy, our suppliers. We also managed to penetrate the main FO database and wipe all records of Lothal before liberating it. Now there are no official records of Lothal and the garrison on Lothal are all dead or captured.

Victory did not come without a cost, though. There are still city blocks with residual cryseefa gas, deployed by the First Order to inflict mass casualties. There are crushed and burned buildings, with artillery shells lobbed at them that removed the roofs and destroyed whatever was within. There are plazas where the dead still litter the ground, both innocent and hostile. There are remnants of hastily erected blockades blown apart by thermal detonators. There are devastated fields where blood soaks the loth-wheat.

But we burned the central hub of the First Order to the ground.

Lothal will return, stronger than before.

The Bastion still stands. The armor and weapons are still there. If there ever comes another dictatorship, please, evict them while wearing the armor I made.

This will be my last recording. I'd like to tell you that the war is going brilliantly and we should be able to restore peace and freedom to the galaxy by the end of the year. I can't. Right now, we have no idea when this war will end, or how it will end. We can't say if the galaxy will even make it out of this war, or if it will destroy it. Haran, I'm recording this on Anaxes, right after a massive firefight where it seemed like every time someone got out of cover they would wade in blaster bolts. You quite literally had to walk through fire to stay alive. Jacen was wounded in the fighting by a lucky shot from some shabla stormtrooper, who got him right in the shoulder, but he's going to live. Probably make a full recovery and be back out there fighting again within a week, too. My armor has been turned totally black in some places and the visor is cracked badly. But for every loss the FO inflict, we do double to them. I've heard of a different resistance, under former Rebellion general Leia Organna, and I'm considering merging with her. We desperately need a better navy and more manpower. If we don't get them, we won't be able to win. Last I heard, this Resistance was on D'qar, operating out of a small Rebellion stronghold, but there's a pretty massive First Order fleet heading there. I passed the intel to Organna, and once they find a different base of operations, I'll contribute more to their cause.

Those demagolka have no idea what they unleashed when they shot my mother.


End file.
